Beschreibung:

1930 DUESENBERG MODEL J MURPHY CONVERTIBLE COUPE COACHWORK BY MURPHY Chassis No. 2200 Engine No. J-483 Black with tan leather interior Engine: straight-eight with twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, 420ci., 320bhp at 4,200rpm; Gearbox: three speed manual; Suspension: beam axle to front, live axle to rear, half elliptic leaf springs all around; Brakes: servo-assisted hydraulically operated drums on all wheels. Left hand drive. The late automotive writer, Ken Purdy, once wrote, The man who had really arrived drove a Duesenberg. It cost him from 6,500 to 25,000 one-hundred-cent-dollars and it looked it. What is more, it acted like it. Nobody driving a stock anything made in America passed a Duesenberg if the Duesenberg was earnest about it. At the heart of that idea was the Model J Duesenberg's massive powerhouse of an engine: complex sporting twin overhead camshafts that controlled four inclined valves, two inlet and two exhaust, per cylinder, displacing 420 cubic inches (6,882 cc). The great five bearing crankshaft alone was reputed to weigh 150 lbs. Even with the modest 5.2:1 compression ratio of the standard engine, the surge of power was awesome, thrusting a phaeton, very completely equipped and no lightweight, from 10-80 mph in top gear in 22 seconds and providing a maximum of 116 mph. Matched to the engine was a very capable chassis, double dropped for a low center of gravity, provided with six sturdy cross-members. Endless care was lavished on the details. The 150mph speedometer, the combined clock and stop-watch altimeter, barometer and brake pressure dials, were highlighted by the famous engine-driven timing box of planetary gears that controlled lights that warned the driver to change the engine oil every 700 miles and check the battery water every 1400 miles, along with other functions. Duesenberg exercised firm control over the bodies fitted to their chassis', encouraging clients to order coachwork directly from the factory, often with the aid of Duesenberg executive and Cord stylist Gordon Buehrig. Buehrig made sure that only the best looking bodies went on the Duesenberg chassis'. As a result, the choice of coachwork was limited to a select, elite group of companies that included Murphy, Rollston, Gurney Nutting, Walker, Willoughby, LeBaron and Hibbard and Darrin, to name a few. The Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California was known for its advanced and spirited styling. The Murphy designs often featured a distinctive 'straight line styling', in addition to wide doors, narrow pillars, flat roofs and perhaps most notably, an absence of overly decorative or ornate trim. Murphy gained respect for doing something unheard of in the coachbuilding world - they actually did full scale mock-up drawings of the client's proposed body. One of their most desirable body styles, the convertible coupe, highlighted the skill and tasteful designs they had become so well-known and respected for. The Duesenberg on offer here, car no. 2200, is one such example of this classic body style. This Murphy Convertible Coupe was originally sold to a Mr. William G. Atkinson of New York City. According to famed Duesenberg historian, Randy Ema, during Mr. Atkinson's ownership, the original engine, J-181, was replaced with J-483. The circumstances of this change are unknown. Ema and noted authors, J.L. Elbert and Fred Roe all record that J-483 was originally installed in a Judkins Berline. In 1946 the Duesenberg, now fitted with J-483, was sold to Ms. Margaret Drayton of Newport, Rhode Island. The car stayed on the east coast for only a short time before it was sold to a California buyer in 1953. The Duesenberg essentially remained in California until the early 1980s with respected owners such as Mr. Jack Passey, leaving the state to new owners for only a short period of time in the mid 1970s. In the late 1970s the car passed to Southern California car collector, Mr. Richard L. Burns, who then sold it to fellow collector